interesting article in today’s LA Times about a phenomenon called “suicide contagion“. simply defined, in the event of a suicide, we find the risk of suicide in that community sky-rockets above the mean risk for that area.
we’ve been told by those smarter than we that there are numerous factors at play in “suicide contagion” but one that I’ve never heard explored is that maybe people who are depressed/sad/suicidal just need someone to say it’s OK to let go and that even hearing of a stranger’s suicide is enough of an affirmative to say goodbye.
full article over here at the Times website and for more on suicide prevention head over here.
